At the bottom of his statement he added "Retiring a Patriot", so he hasn't been cut.
I have met him. He's a fantastic person. I can't remember if it was TBL or Tommysgirl and I spent a night with him, Tom E., and Troy Brown a few years back at a party, and he was hilarious. He kept wiping his forehead and saying "I'm sweating. Look at me!! What's wrong with me?" We were in hysterics. He's a perfect gentleman and pretty shy.
My game day jersey was always Troy 80, but I retired it when he retired. After Mayo's rookie season I decided I wanted his number. So I went to the pro shop and got his jersey. I was walking around and saw him and Gary Guyton, and I ran over to them with my pro shop bag and told him how I wore Troy's jersey for a decade and didn't know who I was going to replace it with. Then I said I had finally decided, and pulled 51 out of the bag. He was really humbled and signed it and gave me a hug.
Yeah, one of my favorites.